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There’s a world of difference between what’s going on in Denver and Seattle when it comes to the sale of marijuana and what’s happening here in Vancouver.

In Colorado and Washington, voters decided that they wanted to legalize its sale. Then, legislators formulated all kinds of regulations and levied hefty taxes on the growers, processors, sellers and buyers.

Here, there’s been none of that, and possession, sale and distribution of marijuana are criminal offences in Canada. There’s been no vote to change that and, of course, there are no regulations.

Yet, 45, so-called, medical marijuana dispensaries operate in Vancouver. That’s a five-fold increase in just four years.

All it takes to buy the drug — as the Sun’s Mike Hager found recently — is (at most) a fee that ranges from $25 to $90 for a quick consultation with a naturopath or psychologist and then, the price of a membership.

This is happening even though under provincial law, naturopaths and psychologists are not allowed to prescribe cannabis. But neither of the professions’ government bodies is enforcing the regulations.

As for the Vancouver Police Departments, not only isn’t it enforcing the law when it comes to the dispensaries, its policy of non-interference extends to the annual, open drug markets held on July 1 and April 20 outside the Vancouver Art Gallery.

Earlier this month, two giant “joints” puffed out harmless smoke that circled around the former courthouse. Below, the air was redolent as buyers lit up their purchases from a thick cluster of stalls where hand-written signs advertised the sellers’ products and, at all of them, baggies of weed were openly exchanged for cash.

VPD media relations officer Brian Montague says it’s left to the discretion of individual officers to enforce the sections of the Criminal Code related to marijuana based on their interpretation of the department’s drug policy.

The VPD’s drug policy is more than a decade old, and centres on intravenous drug users and safe-injection sites as part of the city’s promised four-pillars plan, which has never fully materialized.

“Vancouver has become the jurisdiction in which drug policy issues and different approaches to substance abuse are implemented, evaluated and debated,” it says in the introduction.

But I don’t recall a wide-ranging public debate over the de-facto legalization of marijuana. And, I would remember because I’m all for having an evidence-based debate on marijuana and its effects.

Here are some things I’d like to know: Is second-hand smoke from it is as harmful as it is from tobacco? Is cannabis more harmful to teens and young adults than older adults? Are there neurological studies on long-term use and, if so, what do they conclude?

In the absence of any legal method for roadside testing, how will police keep us safe from marijuana-impaired drivers? The VPD’s drug policy does, after all, does say that public safety is a top priority.

And, even before Vancouver’s de-facto legalization, cannabis impairment has proven fatal in B.C.

A recent analysis of 226 workplace fatalities between 2003 and 2007 done by a WorkSafeBC researcher found that cannabis — not alcohol — was most frequently the drug that impaired the workers’ ability to function properly.

Cannabis, not alcohol, was also the most frequently discovered intoxicant among employees who were in vehicle accidents at work.

The VPD’s policy says it will target street- and middle-level, psychoactive-substance traffickers and preserve the lawful use and enjoyment of public and private property.

“Enforcement,” it says, “will be specifically directed at parks and school grounds. Children, in particular, should not be placed at risk by the negative behaviours associated with psychoactive substance abuse.”

So the art gallery lawn isn’t a park or a place where a lot of kids might be on Canada Day?

But if there are only a handful of officers assigned to watch over hundreds of buyers and sellers at a site, it’s easy to understand why the few would choose to stand by and watch the many.

The double standard for legal drugs versus illegal is breathtaking.

You almost wonder why brewers, wineries and distillers don’t band together to beg the provincial government (or at very least the VPD) to be treated as outlaws.

Then, they’d have no responsibilities, no cops checking in and enforcing municipal bylaws and no huge provincial bureaucracy telling them that finally it’s OK to have happy hour.

They could set up shop at the art gallery selling alcohol on the lawn without having to build a fence.

Their products wouldn’t have to be tested and labelled for their alcohol content. They wouldn’t have to hire servers, who had passed government tests, or be liable for fines if they served someone under the legal drinking age or someone who was intoxicated.

In democracies, laws and regulations are supposed to supposed to develop out of informed debate with the aim of maintaining social harmony, while taxes are assessed to pay for services for the common good.

It’s not supposed to be left to unelected police board members and individual officers to decide what kind of drug policy is acceptable.

That should be left up to citizens.

And, with a municipal election in November, what better time than now to have that debate.

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Daphne Bramham: Citizens, not police, should decide on Vancouver’s de facto legalization of marijuana

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